Thailand Chess Open 2009

Thailand Chess Open
two players on top after six rounds

In its 9th edition, the Bangkok Chess Club Open has now offically grown up to become the Thailand Open Chess Championship with every likelihood to being well on its way to becoming a major international regional event.

After 6 rounds the surprising leader is the untitled Xiu Deshun (CHN, 2422) with 5,5/6. Half a point behind are the winner of the Sri Lanka Masters tournament IM RR Laxman and the winner of the 4th Pichay Cup GM Li Shilong, together with GM Moradiabadi and Shen Siyuan. Scroll down for full standings.

Supported by the Thailand Tourism Authority and held at the wonderful Aisawan Resort & Spa in Pattaya, there is also quite unprecedented publicity, from TV coverage, buntings and posters in strategic locations all over Pattaya, and very nice opening ceremony graced by the city's mayor.

There is of course the little touches together with great attention to detail and the always brilliant hospitality that Thailand is universally know from alays helps(!) and to get a sense of this, do go to the photo gallery at http://aisawan.dyndns.info/chess/.

While there is now the debates of how this event can now continue to be a favourite of amateurs looking to enjoy the many things that Thailand is, while also continuing to make the difference in developing local talent, at this point chess lovers must congratulate the Bangkok Chess Club led by Kai Tuorila for setting a good example.
Standings

1 Xiu Deshun 5.5
2 IM Laxman R.R. 5
3 GM Li Shilong 5
4 GM Moradiabadi Elshan 5
5 Shen Siyuan 5
6 Thejkumar M.S. 4.5
7 GM Short Nigel 4.5
8 IM Sengupta Deep 4.5
9 IM Roy Chowdhury Saptarshi 4.5
10 Zhou Guijue 4.5
11 GM Pogorelov Ruslan 4.5
12 IM Lahiri Atanu 4.5
13 GM Kunte Abhijit 4.5
14 FM Mohannad Farhan 4.5
15 GM Schebler Gerhard 4
16 IM Yap Kim Steven 4
17 FM Voigt Martin 4
18 IM Prathamesh Sunil Mokal 4
19 Gao Rui 4
20 FM Daly Colm 4
21 FM Mok Tze-Meng 4
22 FM Vishnu Prasanna V. 4
23 IM Saptarshi Roy 4
24 Kojima Shinya 4
25 Li Hanbin 4
26 GM Ghane Shojaat 4
27 GM Kekelidze Mikheil 4
28 Mahmoody M. Sadegh 4
29 FM Pitirotjirathon Jirapak 4
30 FM Saeheng Boonsueb 4
31 IM Sharma Dinesh K. 4
32 FM Reilly Tim 4
33 Thebault Bernard 4